Week 3 Reflection

I never knew there was such a thing as social book marking until this week. I see that it can be an endless resource, and not just for education. I would love to set up a del.icio.us account for my students and parents. It would contain kid friendly sites for education and fun. I would have sites that related to the content being covered in class. I would set up the tags for each week of school. So, all the links for content covered in the first week would be tagged week 1. It would also be great to have a school wide teacher and administrator account. Every time our principal receives information or notices regarding education he prints a copy for everyone in the building. Many teachers look at it and then it goes into the trash or gets lost under the piles of paperwork on our desks. If the principal could just tag it to the account we would save a lot of paper, it would be available at any time, and there would be less worry about it landing at the bottom of a pile. It is also a great place for teachers to share great websites. For example, we have revamped our social studies curriculum for next year. One of my colleagues had access to a great site with lesson plans designed around the new state objectives, so at the end of last year she came around to each teacher’s computer and bookmarked the site. It would have saved time and been very convenient if she could have just tagged it to a social book marking account.

The definition of instructional/educational technology seems to have advanced as much if not more that our technology itself. I did not realize that this field was so difficult to define, maybe that because I have never sat down and tried to create a definition for educational technology. I have always used technology to further or deepen the students’ learning. After reading chapter one of Trends and Issues I am beginning to wonder if that is the appropriate strategy to use. In an ideal setting I think the students should explore technology and then allow core subjects to be experienced through that technology. This ideal also brings us back to the age and funding hurdle. As I read this chapter a few questions came to mind. Were any educators involved in the creation of any of these definitions? Were any educators consulted on how they would define instructional/educational technology? If educators were not part of the definition I wonder how it would be different if they had given input?

Photo sharing would once again fit with my early elementary activity of show and tell. With older students it would be a great way to exchange pictures and practice writing captions. It could also be fun and educational to write a headline and news article based around a single picture. Using photo sharing with younger children, I would not have much concern other that they would need help from the teacher or a parent. The older the students the more concern I would have with content. Screening all pictures before publication is granted could also minimize this issue.

In my lesson planning I use technology to give my students a variety of tools to work with. I also use it as a way to touch on different learning styles. When I write lesson plans with technology I do not think of the characteristics listed in the book. I simply evaluate if my students will enjoy the activity and if it will teach, review, or reinforce a concept or idea. Now that I have read this chapter and learned about the characteristics I will definitely use them in all my future lesson planning.